Good Ideas Around The House
According to many interior decorators every house has a tale to tell - be it a huge bungalow, a small house, an apartment or a one room studio apartment. All home owners tend to stamp their own imprint on them while they live there. A lot of homemakers living in rented homes, understandably do not want to spend too much on doing up their space or the interiors of their house.
But home decor and style does not always cost a bomb if you have some imagination and good ideas. You can make your little place cheerful and inviting by doing even as little as freshening it up with a coat of paint, adding some colorful cushions around your sitting room, putting up some of your own or your child’s art work or painting on the bare walls, have some fresh or dried flower arrangement placed at strategic places, covering your dining table with a colorful table cover ..There are ever so many ideas that are waiting to be discovered and put into use. And you will be surprised at the feel good factor.
A neat and tidy house/home that is clutter free lifts your spirits up when you come back after a hard day’s work inviting you into its cool comforts ! It is also ever ready when guests, friends and relatives drop by unexpectedly ..
Few easy makeovers
White, off white and other pale shades do give a touch of class to any home instead of having a predominantly garish bright color that hit your eye. You can pep up the neutral shades by adding a few touches of color here and there. You can have brightly colored cushions, a few bright paintings to add warmth to your space.
Any odd corner that you have can be put into use with imagination and a little ingenuity. The awkward pillar could be removed without causing damage to the surface thereby giving you more space. If it is not possible then it can become the center of your decorating theme . I saw one such smart home maker do it by highlighting the pillar with some interesting wall power, and by adding shelves in a bright shocking pink color on either side. She has also managed to extend the shelf to fit in a computer table and also create a working area. All the stationary and knick knacks such as pens, pencils, CDs, VCDs and books go on to the shelves surrounding the pillar.
Another good idea is to make use of a door, why waste it ? especially when you have limited space within your home. When there is a convenient door that can be utilised, you can get your carpenter to make a hold up made up of light metal and cane baskets which are not too wide so that there is enough free space for the door to open out fully. The shelves are handy to stock up just about anything from woolen balls to magazines .If the shelves have been built behind a kitchen door , you can stack up cookery books, baking gloves and even baking ingredients in the baskets.
Have a green room of your own
Many people are fond of plants and whenever possible they want to grow a garden of their own. But these days with space being restricted it is not easy to find the required space, so it is a good idea to plan a garden of your own wherever you have the scope to do so. If you have a terrace space or a large balcony, you can get it covered with fiber glass and create a room, a green room where you can relax amidst your favorite plants.
You can plan the room in such a way that you are able to hang some planters at different levels ( make sure that they are suspended from iron grills since they may be too heavy to be hung from nails on the walls). You can also have multi level pot holders as well, which looks even more interesting and attractive. Add a few cane chairs with comfortable cushions and a couple of side tables and it is sure to become the most sought out corner in your house. It is an idea place to relax with family and close friends over a cup of tea or even share a meal.
You can plan the room in such a way that you keep one side open, so that you get the cool breeze in the evenings. Incidentally if you have some space around your home, you can plan on having a rock garden in a corner or even on your terrace or balcony. It is fuss free, easy to care for and looks good.
Little things that count
1, We see that there are some awkward corners where the kitchen counter meets the wall. A lot can be done here to utilise the space imaginatively. You can make a shelving in the corner as shown in the picture which has a double layered easy to fix and assemble shelf that can be dismantled and assembled elsewhere when you either move houses or feel like making some other change. This shelf can be stocked with things and can be made attractive with some pots of herbs like mint, parsley or any other plant of your choice.
2, A set of black and white prints can be put together with old family photographs or even get your colored pictures converted to sepia, and frame them in old fashioned black wooden frames. Use a striking larger picture in the center and arrange the smaller black and white pictures around them. The frames of the smaller need not be of the exact size, as long as they are almost similar they do look interesting with the unusual alignment.
3, Under the staircase space is most of the time neglected and used as a junk yard. One can make creative use of this space and make it useful as well as attractive. One can make book racks or build shelves to store everyday stationery, and craft bric-a –brac which can all be arranged and kept in neatly arranged boxes, baskets and holders. A small stool or a light chair can be kept handy to perch on while going through the things.
4, When you have small sitting room and want to make the most of it, make sure that you don’t use too many colors. A single hue , preferably a pastel shade should be running through the furniture, floor rug if you have one and a very light toned wall that blends in. This makes the room look bigger.Try to have some floral or nature paintings on the main wall which tend to add dimension to smaller spaces.Having a mirror on a wall where it refects the room can add dimesion to the room.
5, Be natural and rustic whenever possible. Dress up your dining table or any corner of your sitting room with a bowl of fresh seasonal blooms picked from your garden, along with some attractive green leaves ,ferns and foliages arranged in any odd bottle filled with water, or even in glasses to give a natural look.
6, Make sure that your work space, whether it is a table top or a proper study desk or even a corner that you use for your writing and other jobs, does not get transformed into a junkyard , a mini bar or a dressing table as t happens with many ladies. Keep it neat and tidy and free of everything else other than what it is meant to have, so that your work efficiency increases besides putting you in the right frame of mind.
7, Have a functional and smart kitchen -Always go for quality while buying kitchen appliances. Buying cheaper gadgets may seem economical but often ensures greater spending in the long run. It is also good to remember that all electronic appliances sold by well-known brands are bound to be safety tested and certified. Similarly, energy star rated appliances can bring down the electricity cost. The more stars on the appliance the less energy consumption.
8, It is a very practical idea to have a memo board on your fridge door , which you inevitably reach for throughout the day. You can put all your various lists shopping and others and to-do notes under a magnet placed on the fridge.
9, If you often end up looking for scissors, ribbon, scotch tape or pins while wrapping gifts or doing any other work related to stationary, it is time to get organised. Get a hanging bag that has many pockets ( I have seen many ethnic shops selling these , made from jute and other natural fabrics that look really attractive). We can neatly store away all the musts that are needed for your stationary related work, gift wrapping etc.. Make sure that you also attach some labels so that you can reach for the right item without having to rummage through the entire pocket.
10, Make the most of your bathroom by utilising the space for storage. These days people are very particular about keeping their bathrooms neat, tidy and dry. Making cabinets wherever possible gives you an opportunity to store even hand towels and bath towels besides soaps, shampoos and other solutions needed for everyday use. If you have a small cabinet you can store tablets and other medication as well. Incidentally you can get a note pad and a small box to hold your pens and pencils. You can paste a length of magnet behind both, and place them on the refrigerator door. Just change the notepad when the leaves are over.
11, A smart study space can be organised from our bedrooms when there is dearth of space within our home. You can get your carpenter to make a study table by simply placing a long wooden plank against a free wall space and get some drawers made underneath for storage. Incidentally if you plan, you can also get some drawers made under the sofa bed which comes in handy when you have files and papers that take up a lot of space.
12, Collect all your gardening equipments like pruner, seed packets, trowels, gloves and other gardening gear in an unused planter which can be kept in the balcony along with your plants.This way, it is ready for use, right away whenever you are in the mood for gardening.
13, When you have an active junior who is running all over the place leaving stuff behind – you lose count of the number of times you have picked up after your child, from toys to books to T shirts, towels. You always find everything strewn on the floor, on the bed, chair backs if you are lucky, in fact the whole of your house. Investing in a large basket or a plastic container, and getting it fixed over a tray with wheels definitely helps. You can simply push the tray cart around, collecting everything and putting them back in their place in minutes. Your child may start doing this on his/her own after a while.
14, It is a good idea not to throw away any glass jars that you may get when you purchase certain food stuffs. Clear glass jars are very useful for storing since they are see through.Yo can store anything and everything in them ,other than spices and other kitchen items , you can also use them for storing nails, buttons, screws, bolts and nuts , safety pins etc..
To wrap up this article, I would conclude by saying that interior decoration and good home management is an art that needs to be developed and cultivated by being aware and imaginative.
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